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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/28329852">This is Home</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/dreamthievespart17/pseuds/dreamthievespart17'>dreamthievespart17</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>RinHaru Week 2020 [1]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Free!</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>M/M, No Dialogue, Reincarnation, RinHaru Week 2020, Soulmates, Stream of Consciousness</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-12-26</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-12-26</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-10 18:07:40</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>General Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>705</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/28329852</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/dreamthievespart17/pseuds/dreamthievespart17</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Their eyes meet and they know. </p><p>Every time they race, they remember.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Matsuoka Rin/Nanase Haruka</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>RinHaru Week 2020 [1]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/series/2074719</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>6</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>13</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Collections:</b></td><td>Rin &amp; Haru Week</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>This is Home</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>Day 1 of RinHaru Week</p><p>The theme is connection and I also chose the blue prompt, tradition, and the soulmates and reincarnation AUs</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <em>I look into your eyes and I</em> know you.
</p><p>
  <em>Every time we race… I remember. </em>
</p><p>—</p><p>The moment Haru’s eyes met Rin’s, he knows that he is home.  </p><p>He looks into the swirling maroon depths and he remembers. </p><p>He sees something that he <em>has</em> seen before, but never in this lifetime, with <em>this</em> Rin. </p><p>It’s time for them to race and when they do, the memories will return. </p><p>He knows it. </p><p>He reaches out a shaky hand and intertwines his fingers with Rin’s, leading  him to the water that calls to Rin just as much as it calls to him. </p><p>They shed all but their suits and stride to the edge of the pool. </p><p>Gazing at Rin beside him, all angles and sharpness and emotion, something stirs in his heart. </p><p>They dive in. </p><p>And Haru remembers. </p><p>—</p><p>
  <em>The first time, they are children when they meet and children still when they realize it. Two boys in love with the sea, two boys intertwined forever. </em>
</p><p>
  <em>They swim in salty water and race and race until they can swim no more, relaxing and floating as they while the hours away with conversations and games and comfortable silence. </em>
</p><p><em>They are young, but not too young to be unable to recognize their connection, not too young to realize that what they have is a connection that neither have ever felt before.</em> </p><p>
  <em>They race and it clicks. Their eyes meet and they know. </em>
</p><p>—</p><p>
  <em>The next time they are older, both apprenticed to the same man, working dawn to dusk at the docks and on the sea, catching, gutting and sorting fish. They eat mackerel all day and don’t bother to complain; being near the sea is enough, no matter what they have to eat. </em>
</p><p>
  <em>They work together side by side and sometimes speak and other times do not, but they always notice the other’s presence, captivated by each other’s existence. Another, filled with passion and never ending love for the water. It  is fascinating that they would end up meeting each other, knowing one another. </em>
</p><p>
  <em>But it isn’t until one day that they truly know. The sky is cerulean blue in its pre-dawn state and stars that have yet to retire twinkle above them faintly. Both arrive early that day, seemingly by coincidence. </em>
</p><p>
  <em>Their eyes meet and they know. </em>
</p><p>
  <em>They swim together, race each other, and they remember. </em>
</p><p>—</p><p>
  <em>It happens again and again and again. </em>
</p><p>
  <em>Lifetimes after lifetimes they meet once more, twice more, thrice more. More times than they could ever count. </em>
</p><p>
  <em>They never know when they first encounter each other and sometimes it takes weeks, months, years, but it always happens. </em>
</p><p>
  <em>Their eyes meet and they feel it. They race and the memories return. </em>
</p><p>
  <em>They have known each other in other lifetimes, other worlds, when they were other people, and yet, still very much the same. </em>
</p><p>
  <em>Their faces and bodies are ever-changing, but their eyes stay the same. And their love for the water never dies, nor their passion for each other. </em>
</p><p>—</p><p>Haru remembers. </p><p>He swims and he recalls it all. </p><p>The years they spent side by side, the lifetimes they burned through with their passion. </p><p>It all comes rushing back like a roaring wave. </p><p>As he dips above and below the surface of the water, slim fingers cutting a sharp path through the water, his heart feels full and Haru smiles, a real smile, like this world had never seen before. </p><p>Rin wins the race – he doesn’t always, but more often than not he beats Haru by a fraction of a moment – and when the two of them are done merely taking in each other’s eyes from an arm’s length away, they hug. Rin’s grasp is firm and he sobs unashamedly, his tears trickling down both of their faces and mixing with the water below. </p><p>Haru holds him just as tightly, with the same measure of recklessness, and promises that in this life, they will never be apart again. </p><p>Rin steps back and cradles Haru’s face before their foreheads smack together and he laughs and Haru laughs with him. </p><p>Rin tilts his head sideways and kisses him, sharp teeth pricking his lip as they both hungrily dive in for more. </p><p>He kisses Haru and Haru knows. </p><p>This is home.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Thank you for reading and hope you enjoyed!</p><p>If you feel so inclined, please kudos and comment :) </p><p>(Also, I will be doing all the prompts for RinHaru week, I’m just a little late, since I didn’t know it was happening until the day it started haha)</p><p>Tumblr @somniabundant</p></blockquote></div></div>
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